Brooks Best in Class C
April 29th, 2012 by In Racing News
The season long battle between Justin Brooks and Heath Hindman for the NASCAR iRacing Class C Series (NiCCS) crown came down the final two weeks of the season. Hundreds of sim racers came out to test their skills at the Darlington Raceway and Kentucky Speedway in the final two rounds, but when the final laps were ran and the checkered flag fell on 2012 Season One, it was Brooks who would ultimately edge out Hindman for the prestigious title.
Week Eleven of the series took the Trucks to the Darlington Raceway where Phil Juhring took the top spot over 400 others who took a green flag at the track “Too Tough to Tame.” Juhring’s big win of the week came during a 2801 sof race on April 10th in which he led all but two laps in the race en route to the win over Michael Simons II, Sam Edwards, Eric Purcell2 and Greg McKinney. Juhring started the 90-lap race from the pole and had to outlast four cautions to punch his ticket to victory lane. The top two in this race were awarded with the top two spots of the week with Juhring and Simons II taking 175 and 163 points away from the race, respectively.
Also on the podium for the week at Darlington was Canadian Jordan Westfall. Westfall would wind up in victory lane on April 11th during a 2582 sof race in which he led 36 laps, including the most important one, ahead of Craig Jernigan, Shelvin Johnson, Wes Weidman and Gary Fridinger. Johnson started from the pole and led 54 laps before surrendering the lead to Westfall, who started third on the grid. For the victory, Westfall was credited with 159 points.
Patrick Smart made the most starts of the week at Darlington, taking 11 green flags over the seven day span. David Krikorian and Chad Pruitt each won four times on the week, the most of any others who were in the search for the checkers at “the Lady in Black.” Jukka Savolainen was the quickest in qualifying, putting in a time of 28.246 seconds around Darlington. Krikorian, Eric Hoggarth, Brooks and Jason Karlavige completed the top five in single truck qualifying. The top Time Trial honor went to Dustin Bartee on Week Eleven, over Manuel Bubbers, Matthew Shanks, Roger Stanley Jr and Earl Landry.
The final round of the season took the NiCCS drivers to the Kentucky Speedway. Pruitt continued his winning ways from Darlington and followed it up with a big win at Kentucky to capture the weekly victory during Week Twelve. His win, which tipped the scales at 3138 sof, saw Pruitt lead exactly half of the 90 laps in the race after starting from the inside of Row Three. In fact, five of the 18 drivers who started the race led at least one lap in the event. Finishing second in the race was McKinney, followed by Fridinger, Tony Monge and Dominic Krischke. Michael Tasillo, who started on the pole and led a dozen laps of the 90 completed would finish 12th. Pruitt was awarded with 197 points for his win.
Casey Malone was second for the week at Kentucky after a win on April 22nd in a 3094 sof race. Malone started tenth and led ten laps en route to the win over Gene Miller2, Edward Burch Jr, Joey Israelson and Billy Weeks. Marko Viitanen led over half (48) of the laps but would cross the line in seventh, faring better than pole sitter Patrick Davis, who finished 15th in the event. Three cautions slowed the event while the lead was exchanged eight times amongst seven drivers. Malone pocketed 194 points for the win.
Rounding out the podium at Kentucky was NASCAR iRacing.com Series World Championship driver Pat Baldwin. The 3120 sof affair on April 21st which saw Baldwin pull into victory lane featured two cautions and saw the winner lead 50 laps after starting in the 11th spot. Following Baldwin to the line was Aaron Lovell, followed by Chris E Pence, Edward Szigeti and Sean Hall. Davis once again found himself on the pole but would up coming home ninth in the race. Baldwin captured 194 points in his victory at Kentucky.
Maxx Harris closed off the season by making 26 starts in the final week of 2012 Season One while Rob Miles put 13 wins up on the board, the only driver to hit a double digit win total at Kentucky. Savolainen once again flexed his muscle in qualifying as his 31.020 second lap was quicker than that of Tasillo, Ray Schoder, Michael McLain and Robert Lee. Victor Vollrath was the top driver in the final week of the Time Trial competition as his run at Kentucky was better than that of Tasillo, Kirschke, Christopher DiBenedetto and Bubbers. Bill Brown was crowned the NiCCS Time Trial champion for 2012 Season One with 785 points. Stephen Riggs, JD Bartone, Chris Allex and Bartee completed the top five of 843 who attempted a Time Trial run in the first quarter of ’12.
After the final laps were ran and the points tallied, Brooks will go down as the 2012 Season One champion of the NiCCS with 1576 points, 37 points more than Hindman’s total of 1539. Division Two titlist Jernigan rallied to finish third overall this season with 1385 points, four more than Trey Jarrell’s 1381. Savolainen completed the top five with 1362 points, just five more markers than Pruitt’s 1357 total. Divisional champions from Division Three to Ten include Tom Moustakas, Michael Atkins Jr., Rock Harris, Michael Valentin, Fausto Bessa Gomes, Robert Cori, Sean Cummings2 and Robert Mason2.
The NASCAR iRacing Class C Series fires up again for 2012 Season Two action at the start of May.